Black, White, and Blue
by trustpixiedust
Summary: Merlin's life is black and white, and no matter how much his favorite barista insists, he doesn't believe destiny will change that anytime soon. Although, he could be wrong. Modern one-shot AU loosely based on the prompt, "AU where everything is black and white until you meet your soul mate." (slightly slash)


**This summer I was looking for new shows to watch on Netflix, and I stumbled upon Merlin. A few months later, I was obsessed and emotionally damaged. ****I have written a few Merlin things just to get my feelings out, and this was one of them. **

**This is just a quick one-shot based on an idea that sounded interesting to me. This is un-betad so any mistakes are mine, and if it seems a bit disjointed, I'm sorry. This was just something I wrote up really quickly on a whim.  
**

**I do not own Merlin or else there would be a modern continuation and three movies. **

**Review and tell me what you think! **

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"Merlin! I need you to go run an errand for me!" a voice calls from downstairs, jolting Merlin out of sleep. He stretches out with a groan, pulling his face up out of his pillow. His legs tangle in the sheets as he struggles to get out of bed, causing him to roll off the side and face first into the floor. With a groan, he pushes himself up and roughly pulls his legs out of the bed.

"Coming!" he yells, grabbing at random clothes from the floor and shoving them on. A discarded grey shirt from his dresser. Dark grey jeans from the foot of his bed. A black scarf hanging from his closet door.

With a few stumbles, he makes it down the stairs and into the kitchen, his crooked grin in place and his raven hair in a disarray.

"There you are, I was beginning to wonder if you had fallen down the stairs again," the elderly man says from his position behind the counter.

"That was one time, Gaius!" Merlin protests, pulling out a black barstool and making himself comfortable.

"Yes, but you broke three bones and I had to listen to you whine for weeks," the older man responds, looking up from his work with a small smile.

"I'm not _that_ accident prone!" Merlin protests, but his words die in his throat when Gaius' eyebrow lifts. "You…you wanted me for something?" Merlin finally breaks the silence, and glances away from the other man's accusing stare.

"I need you to run over a prescription I have for a client. He has a very busy work schedule and I have other patients I have to attend to today," Gaius says, pulling out a small bottle and setting it on the counter.

"Who is it?" Merlin asks, his pale white fingers tracing patterns on the black counter top.

"Uther Pendragon," Gaius replies before he turns and starts placing his things in his white medical bag.

"_The_ Uther Pendragon? As in the high and mighty business man himself?" Merlin's voice rose slightly higher with surprise.

"Yes, he is a recent patient. Also, he suggested that his medicine be delivered as soon as possible," Gaius comments, turning back to Merlin again with his eyebrow raised once again.

"Alright, no need to pull out the eyebrow. I'll be off," Merlin says, grabbing the small bottle and walking out of the house. He strolls to the side of the yard, and pulls his bike from the bushes where he haphazardly threw it last night. Tucking the medicine in his pants pocket, he rolls the bike down the driveway and out to the road. Distantly he remembers Gaius once remarking that Pendragon Industries was about ten minutes away.

Merlin picks a direction, swings his leg over the bike, and sets off. He thinks that Uther wouldn't mind _terribly_ if he stopped for a quick cup of coffee and turns right towards his favorite café.

He arrives in a few minutes, locks his bike up, and walks in. A small bell announces his presence and a few seconds later, a booming voice greets him.

"Merlin Emrys! It's about time you came to see me again!"

"Good morning Mr. Dragon," Merlin replies, giving a grin to the muscled man behind the counter.

"The usual?"

"Yeah, but to go this time. I have an errand to run for Gaius."

"Today is going to be a lucky day for you, my young friend," the man says as Merlin moves closer to the bar.

"Please no more of that destiny stuff, Kilgharrah," Merlin says, trying to keep the whining tone from his voice.

"You will wish you listened to my wise words more often Merlin," the man says, holding out the coffee, his grey eyes sparkling.

"Yeah, sure," Merlin mumbles, taking the coffee and walking out of the café.

Within a few minutes, and two near accidents later, Merlin arrives at Pendragon Industries. He looks around and the dim street and up at the tall black building with a sigh. _I really hope that Uther doesn't work on the top floor_, Merlin thinks before sauntering into the front door. A blinding white entry way greets him, and he sees only grey shadows for a second until his eyes adjust to the brightness. People bustle past him, making for the elevators, their briefcases swinging.

Merlin makes his way to the front desk, his fingers gripping his coffee cup tightly.

"Can you tell me where I can find Uther Pendragon?" he asks the woman behind the desk.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No…I..uhm…I'm here to deliver his medication," Merlin stammers, his free hand going up to scratch at the back of his neck nervously.

"Of course. Go up to the fifth floor and his office is just through the glass doors."

Merlin again dodges through the crowd, reaching the stairs and making his way up to the fifth floor. Feeling very proud of himself when he trips only once on the way up, he knocks on the big glass door.

"Who is it?" a deep voice calls from inside.

"Merlin Emrys…I'm here to deliver your medicine from Gaius," the dark haired boy says, feeling a bit intimidated by the commanding tone. There is a pause, and the glass doors are opened to reveal a tall man in a dark suit. He glances down at Merlin with barely concealed disdain and reaches out a hand for the medication.

"Thank you boy, you may go now," he sneers once Merlin fumbles the small bottle out of his pocket and hands it to him. Merlin all too gladly complies, and hurries away from the intimidating man back towards the stairs.

Just as he is about to reach out and pull the door open to the stairwell, it slams open and a form bursts out and straight into him. Unfortunately, Merlin's cup of coffee ends up between the two, and splashes out on the pair.

"You idiot! Watch where you're going!" Startled, Merlin looks up at the shout, and finds himself staring into a pair of angry blue eyes. He blinks hard, not believing what he was seeing. _Blue? How could he see blue?_ When he meets the man's eyes again, they are still blue. If not bluer than before. The bluest blue.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" the man declares, and suddenly warm hands shove Merlin back a few steps. He stumbles a bit, his mind still on the fact that he can suddenly see color. "Well?"

"Blue," Merlin mutters, his mind still wrapped around the fact that the man's eyes weren't grey like the rest of the people in his life.

"Blue? Blue what? Are you daft?" The man's shouting finally brings Merlin out of his thoughts, and he again makes contact with the blue eyes.

"I'm….sorry…" he stutters, taking in the rest of the other man's appearance. He had golden hair, tan skin, red shirt, and blue jeans._ Color! He was in color!_

"You should be sorry! This is my favorite shirt," the man whines, plucking at his soaked clothing. Merlin looks around at the rest of the office, finding that it was still in the normal black and white. Turning back to the indignant man, he sees the color slowly bleeding out into the rest of the world.

"Do you see…the color?" Merlin asks, gesturing weakly to the other man.

"Color!? I could care less about color! Do you even know who I am?"

"Couldn't say that I do…" Merlin mumbles, still distracted by the fact that his world was suddenly changing and he had no idea why.

"I'm Arthur Pendragon!" Merlin shows no recognition at the name, just continues staring at the golden hair and marveling how it seemed to give off its own light. "Why are you staring at me like I've just ripped the rug out from under your feet?" Arthur finally asks, realizing that his shouts were getting nowhere with the confused man in front of him.

"Merlin Emrys," the latter replies, slowly catching up on the conversation.

"There's something about you, Merlin. Can't quite put my finger on it," Arthur says, and he catches himself wondering that if there was something wrong in the head with this stranger.

"Arthur!" a voice calls from in the office, ruining the strange moment between the pair.

"I have to go," Arthur mutters, pushing past Merlin and walking into the office. Merlin staggers towards the stairs again, still caught on the fact that he could see everything in color, and how it all started with a pair of blue eyes.


End file.
